


On the Nature of Imperfection- Flaws, Change, and Love

by ABirdInFlight



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Steven Universe Has PTSD - Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, mild existential angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-30
Updated: 2020-07-30
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:07:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25604821
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ABirdInFlight/pseuds/ABirdInFlight
Summary: Shaken by Steven's almost attempt to shatter her on Homeworld, White Diamond reflects upon what she has become because of him. Perhaps imperfection is not so terrible, when one is not alone.
Relationships: Blue Diamond & Spinel & White Diamond & Yellow Diamond (Steven Universe), Spinel & White Diamond (Steven Universe), Steven Universe & White Diamond
Comments: 6
Kudos: 51





	On the Nature of Imperfection- Flaws, Change, and Love

**Author's Note:**

> Redemption is not dependent on forgiveness. Sometimes, healing does not come from the mercy of your victims. Sometimes it comes from the love you find somewhere else.

_ “ _ _ Please, don’t follow me.” _

_ “Steven!” _

* * *

The cry that escaped her lips was unlike anything White Diamond had ever heard from her own mouth. Desperate, concerned, shaken-  _ flawed _ , in every possible sense. And so unlike her, even now, that any gems passing in the near vicinity were sure to look up and wonder just who the great and mysterious White Diamond had become.

To a being as ancient as she, two years was but a mere blink of an eyelash. Two years and some uncounted months she hadn’t bothered to mark. What was that, compared to the many eons she had lived? Truthfully, she had lost count of her own age. No other gem knew of the time before Era 1. But she did. She had seen it all, had seen the stars in their glory form as they exploded into existence, had seen the gases collide in blinding colors- pinks, blues, yellows, whites- had been there when the darkness became light.

She knew not  _ when _ she had been formed, exactly, only that she  _ had _ . Lost amongst the stars, a lonely being with no one and nothing  _ like _ her in all the universe, she had known only what she was meant to do. She had not questioned  _ why, _ had only acted, done as she knew she must. And she had continued doing so, as the millenia passed before her eyes.

Then, in only the tiniest speck of time, everything had changed.

White Diamond had worked hard over the past few months to re-construct something resembling the inner peace she had once known, though she could admit it had been an enormous challenge. That sense of surety and purpose she'd been made with had been so disrupted, so completely uprooted that, for a time, she had lost all sense of herself. Who was she, if not perfect, if not the unblemished, flawless ruler over her Empire? Never mind that the flaws had been there all along, Never mind that the universe could not have been expected to get it right the first time. Never mind how she had tried to correct it herself, how she had cut them out of herself, taking the light refracting inside her and turning it into new life- yellow, blue, pink- all given form outside of herself. 

As it happened, those singular impurities could never be eliminated entirely. They were with her still, reflecting in the light sparkling off her gem. She could see it on the ground beneath her feet- shimmering little rainbows of color that followed her everywhere she stepped outside her cold, empty palace. They reminded her of her true colors, her flaws lurking beneath all the blinding white light.

It was all shattered now anyway. What little peace she had managed to regain had just crumbled again, uprooted once more by the human boy with the pleading eyes staring back at her.

Two years was nothing to her. It was everything, however, to him, and she had been shortsighted to forget. 

He vanished in a column of light, White Diamond’s own cry still ringing in her ears. The long, clawed hand reaching for him shrank back. She stared at it a moment, scattered memories flashing in her mind. How she’d tried to forget them.

But Steven clearly hadn’t, and it was  _ his _ thoughts she had seen, and through  _ his _ eyes that she had suddenly looked upon herself and seen something vile. 

A gentle voice interrupted her thoughts.

“White? What happened?”

She stared a moment more at the long black claws that were her nails, and had to swallow around the sudden desire to rip them all out.

“I...I’m not sure.”

“What do you mean you’re not sure?” A different, louder voice insisted. Yellow Diamond.

“Yellow, please…” the gentle voice said. Blue Diamond again. White blinked, the edges of her hand coming in and out of focus. She cleared her throat.

“Weren’t ya able to use your powers?” White glanced down, far down, at the little pink gem at her feet. Spinel’s worried face stared up at her, one hand resting on White’s much larger toe. Smaller gems like Spinel were always so far away, it seemed- as Steven had been. As Steven still was. 

“Yes, I…I saw his thoughts. He’s angry...terribly angry. And frightened of it. And he...” 

White paused, lifting a hand to her head. She pressed her fingers around the edges of her gem, as though she could still feel the phantom cracks within them. It hadn’t happened. But the vision danced again in front of her eyes- Steven’s face, his eyes dark and angry, shifting places with her- and her body there, small and weak, held up as though by strings, forced into place until- 

_ Crack _ . 

“He…” The hand twitched against her gem, “wanted to  _ shatter _ me.” 

“What?!”

“No...he couldn’t! He wouldn’t...”

“You’re still talking about  _ Steven,  _ right?”

“But he would never...are you sure?”

“ _ Yes _ ,” White all but hissed, clasping her hands together in front of her. She held tightly to keep them still and glanced down, somber. “I believe he is quite angry...with me.”

“White...I think we should go inside,” Yellow suggested sensibly. “We need to hear about this.” She took hold of the elder diamond’s elbow, tugging gently. White would have never allowed such a thing during Era 2- but she leaned into it now, allowing Yellow to lead her back through the palace doors. Spinel leapt up, legs coiled like springs, so that she could come to rest on White’s shoulder. 

“I had no idea he was feeling so angry,” Blue said, taking hold of White’s other arm. “I knew he was upset, but I never imagined…”

“I told him his temper was out of control,” Yellow replied. “He wanted help with his physical form, he told me he’d been turning pink and growing uncontrollably.”

“Yes, he said as much to me,” Blue said with a nod. White kept her eyes trained forward, staring blankly as her fellow diamonds pulled her towards the inner sanctum of the palace. The rainbows which glinted off her gem in the light had faded, leaving only the slightest tint of pink to mar her brilliant white aura. It was a permanent feature now, and it stained her every movement.

“Before he left, he asked me how to get rid of vengeful thoughts,” Spinel muttered, and White stopped abruptly.

“He what?” she asked, holding out a hand for Spinel to jump on. White brought the little gem closer to her face, and Spinel nodded. 

“Yeah, he wanted to know what helped me,” Spinel glanced down, brow furrowed in thought. “Trouble is, it was Steven’s advice that helped me...and I don’t think he liked that much.”

White sighed, shutting her eyes. 

“I believe these thoughts are upsetting to Steven,” she stated as calmly as she could. At her side, she felt Blue’s grip on her arm tighten.

“White...come and sit with us,” Blue murmured with a soft tug. “Tell us what happened.” White’s eyes slowly blinked open again, but she allowed herself to be led to a room Steven had created- he called it a “living room,” decorated with comfortable seats for “relaxing.” It was only another reminder of how he had swooped into their lives and upturned them entirely. Diamonds did not “relax.” But they sat there now, on the over-large cushioned sofa constructed by Pink’s old pebbles. 

_ Oh, Pink _ . 

White exhaled slowly. Blue and Yellow flanked her on both sides, neither releasing their hold on her. Spinel clambered up her arm, returning to her customary place on White’s shoulder. The elder Diamond could feel their concern so clearly, and the part of her that was pink was enormously touched by it. To think, after all this time and all she had done, they still  _ cared _ for her this much…her little family. There were moments when she simply could not move, so overwhelmed by it after so many eons of isolation and emptiness. But one of their own was hurting, and so she must speak.

“I was able to connect with Steven,” White finally said, “but it wasn’t at all what I expected. I thought, perhaps as you did, that he was only worried about his power as a Diamond.”

“Yes,” Yellow agreed. “I suspected his problem was emotional, that’s why I told him to see Blue.”

“But that wasn’t it either,” Blue interjected. “He did tell me about his mood swings, but my powers didn’t seem to help him.” She tapped a finger against her chin. “In fact, he told me he didn’t want to feel better. He said he wanted to  _ be _ better.”

White snapped her head towards Blue, eyes flown wide. 

“He said that?”   


“He did,” Blue said with a nod. “I thought it was strange as well, only...White, what’s wrong?”

White blinked in surprise, realizing too late that her nails had pierced the fabric of the sofa. With a start she pulled her hands back.

“It’s only…that’s what  _ I  _ said when...after I…” she glanced down again at her hands, and winced. With a gasp she buried her head in them, nails digging at the edges of her gem. The echoes of Steven’s thoughts battered around inside it, and for a moment she could  _ see _ it, her own monstrous face leering down, a clawed hand reaching out, ripping the life out of him...or smashing her head into a pillar.

He’d wanted to shatter her, and she deserved it.

“I...I really  _ hurt _ him, I…” she cried into her hands. “Oh, this is all my fault! He’s like this because of  _ me! _ ” 

“White...calm down!” Yellow struggled to say, patting White awkwardly on the back. But White could not, for this was the crux of her own troubles these days. These silly, overwhelming emotions that, once she had acknowledged existed, could not be locked away. 

Steven had done this to her. He had shown her she was wrong, wrong about Pink and wrong about herself. That, more than anything- more than any sudden embarrassment or shame at her behavior, more than any guilt or grief or rage that she had locked behind a pristine smile- that was what had cracked her open.

A perfect being could not be wrong. But she had been, so therefore she could not be perfect. She had a flaw. A great many flaws, as it happened. And one by one they had revealed themselves as her perfect empire crumbled around her. 

_ Insecure. Dependent. Obsessed. _

She may not have been able to bear it, but for Steven. Steven, who had spent two years teaching them how to love and laugh and forgive and change. And to think, all this time he’d felt so angry, so frightened of them...White had seen it in his thoughts. Not only had he never forgiven them, as she had wrongly assumed, he didn’t even  _ like _ them.

He had imagined  _ shattering  _ her. 

Through the thick fog of emotion, however, she felt Spinel’s small arms wrapping themselves around her neck. She could feel Yellow’s hand still at her back, and Blue’s weight pressed against her side.

“Oh, White...it’s all of our fault,” Blue insisted. “We weren’t there for him, like we weren’t for Pink. But that’s behind us now.” White glanced up from between her fingers, looking over at Blue. The younger Diamond raised her hands, forming a small little cloud within them. Relieved, White nodded.

“Here now...this will help.” And with a small breath of air, the cloud washed it’s way over White’s form, filling her with a gentle balm that dried her tears instantly. She sat straighter, a small smile on her face as Blue’s power lifted her spirits and rid her of any lingering sadness. For now, at least, it was enough. 

“Do you...feel better?” Yellow asked. White nodded.

“Yes, thank you.” 

“Good,” Spinel gave her one last squeeze as she unwound her arms from White’s neck. 

“Perhaps you should rest a while? I’m sure whatever’s happening with Steven can wait a little longer,” Blue suggested, but White shook her head.

“I don’t believe it can,” she said, the calm of Blue’s power allowing her to more easily speak of it. “As I said, I was able to connect with him. I thought it might help him to speak to himself, as he’s the only being like him in the universe...but I’m afraid it only seemed to make matters worse. He grew angry and out of control. He was shouting at my form, but he was afraid of me nevertheless. And then…”

White paused for a moment, frowning despite the lingering blue clouds in the air. 

“Go on,” Yellow urged.

“Then he said _I_ should be the one afraid. I’m not...entirely certain what happened next, but I saw his thoughts...he imagined himself in my place, controlling my body...and then he...pictured himself smashing my gem into a pillar. To shatter it.”

Blue gasped, Yellow winced, and Spinel’s hands flew to her mouth. But White sat still, serene almost.

“I was never in any danger. It was his own head that he hit, in the end.” Her brow furrowed slightly- had he been hurt? He hadn’t seemed to be. She dismissed the concern. 

“But, why? Why would he think a thing like that?” Spinel asked. White stared down at the little gem, and what was left of Blue’s clouds seemed to evaporate. The weight of guilt pressed itself back down into her gem. 

She’d never told Spinel, had she?

“Spinel, I…” She looked away, lips pressed together. No, she couldn’t do this, couldn’t admit her crime to the sweet little gem on her shoulder. How could she? Her lip trembled again, tears once again threatening to spill from her eyes.

“She ripped Steven’s gem out trying to bring back Pink,” Yellow said. White flinched again, and heard Spinel gasp. She shut her eyes tight, fighting back the desire to weep a second time, until she felt Blue’s clouds brushing against her face again, sweet and warm like an embrace. 

“There now,” Blue said gently. “I know you’re sorry for what you did. We all do.”

“Steven doesn’t,” White murmured, but the effect of the clouds had already stolen her sadness away again.

“Wow...ya really did a number on him, huh?” Spinel said, swinging her legs back and forth. “So did I, I guess.” She laughed suddenly. “Guess we’re all in the club now, huh? The ‘I almost killed Steven Universe club!’ Ain’t that funny?” 

But it wasn’t funny, and they all knew it. Not even Blue Diamond’s clouds were enough to make them really laugh this time. 

“We’ve all hurt him,” Yellow mused. “But this is Steven we’re talking about! If he’s...if he’s suffering then it’s our duty to help him.” 

“He asked us not to follow him,” White countered, and she was loathe to do anything which might alienate her even further from Steven’s good graces, if she had ever been in them to begin with. She could see him slipping further and further away, as his mother had before him. Were they going to lose him just the same?

“I think we should go,” came Blue’s quiet voice. “If only to tell his Crystal Gems, his family. They should know what’s happened.” 

“Besides, he left his foot-thong-thingy.” 

* * *

Several light years and one monster attack later, White Diamond sat upon the beaches of Earth with her feet only half-submerged in the salty water. The waves tickled at the tips of her toes, strong enough at that distance to drown an organic, but barely a ripple to her. She sat with her elbow propped upon her knees and contemplated the night sky. 

Everything looked different on Earth. It was lovely, in its way, but the sky lacked clarity. The atmosphere blocked the bright light of the stars, and she could not have seen the pinprick that was her Homeworld if she tried. It made her feel as alien as she surely looked, a giant, luminous being whose head could be seen towering over the mountainside even while she sat. 

Though perhaps not so luminous now. Her light had dimmed with the fading of Earth’s only star to allow for the organics to sleep. She reached down, her long nails dipping into the salty spray at her feet- what a delicate, silly little world this was, that it’s life could be so disrupted by something as simple as her light. 

Silly, but dear. Pink’s lost colony had it’s charms. And it was Steven’s world now, so White cherished it because she cherished him. No matter how strange and uncomfortable it was to be there. 

As her thoughts turned to the troubled boy, she glanced back towards the small wooden structure dotting the side of the mountain. She didn’t think she’d ever seen that little hut completely intact. The gaping hole in the wall looked like a scar, but it allowed her to see inside where she could make out the vague movement of the Crystal Gems. Squinting, White watched as they surrounded a figure seated on the sofa.

Steven.

She observed as Pink Diamond’s second pearl pressed a cup of  _ something _ into the boy’s hands, then moved to wrap a blanket tightly around his shoulders. The boy leaned into the pearl, his eyes closing as he fell against her. On his other side sat an organic human, her hand resting on the boy’s knee. Behind the sofa stood the fusion who called herself a Garnet, and on the floor in front of the boy was the defective amethyst. 

The other gems had left, gone back to their little settlement to repair the damage. Not far from the house, Blue and Yellow sat absorbed in some conversation with the male organic that White could not make out. Spinel dangled from Blue’s hair. White felt terribly far from them all- she loved that boy no less than they, yet she sat on the outside, unable to enter even if they’d wanted her to. Which, she knew very well, they did not. 

White sighed, and the sky felt so lonely. Where were the stars? Where was  _ her _ starlight? 

She pressed a hand to her cheek, scrunching her knees closer to her chest as memories of the day flitted through her mind. Steven, corrupted. His awful thoughts in her head. She’d felt it, only a moment, but she’d felt it- the anger, the burning hatred he felt for _her_ , specifically, as she’d tried a second time to invade his mind…

She never learned, did she? Always unwelcome, always at the edge of the room, allowed to observe from her silent throne but never  _ be _ . How lonesome. How miserable. 

“Hey White,” came a small voice. White turned her large head at the sound, looking down to see Spinel standing sheepishly at her side. Despite her melancholy thoughts, White smiled.

“Hello, my star.” 

“Can I...can I come up?”

“Of course,” White lowered a massive hand, allowing Spinel to climb upon it. The little gem clung to White’s thumb as she lifted her hand back up to her knee, allowing them to speak face-to-face. “Did you need something?”

“No,” Spinel shrugged. “Just thought you looked sad...I don’t like it when you’re sad.” White gave another small smile. 

“How sweet of you, starshine. But I’m all right,” White tried to grin. “It seems everything will be just fine now. Steven is with his family.” 

“Yeah...his family.” Spinel frowned in the direction of the house. “That ain’t us, is it?” White followed Spinel’s gaze. Steven was resting against the pearl still, who had taken him into her arms and was now running her fingers through his hair. A rush of longing pulsed through White’s gem- she could never touch Steven like that, no matter how small she made herself- he would never accept such a gesture from the likes of her. 

“That’s not us,” she repeated. She shifted her gaze back to Blue and Yellow, still chatting amicably with the human male. “Not you and I, anyway.” 

“Guess we did too much damage, huh?” Spinel said with a sad little laugh. “Steven doesn’t like me either, you know. He tries to pretend, but I can tell.” 

“Oh, Spinel, I’m sure that’s not-”

“No, it is. I’m not stupid. Besides, I’ve...I’ve got you guys now, right?” Spinel turned her shining eyes up at White Diamond, who despite everything, felt a sudden rush of warm feeling inside her. 

Maybe she wasn’t  _ so _ alone.

“Of course, starshine. And you’ll always have us.” White lifted one enormous finger to stroke the tips of Spinel’s hair, letting the very edge of her nail rest on the little gem’s head. She was so much larger than Spinel, but they found ways to show affection regardless. Spinel wrapped her spindly arms around White’s finger, which she crooked around the edge of the little gem’s body. It was as close to hugging her as she could get. 

“And you’ve got me too, you know,” Spinel said, rubbing her cheek against the pad of White’s finger. “I know you still feel lonesome sometimes, but you’re not anymore. You’ve got me, and Yellow and Blue too. Even if Steven doesn’t wanna be around us...we have each other.”

White smiled despite herself, genuinely this time. It did little to fill the hole inside her that Pink Diamond and her son had left, but it softened the ache. 

“I do love you so, my star,” White said softly. Spinel pulled back from their makeshift embrace just a bit.

“But you’re still sad, ain’t ya?” she said, her large eyes seeming to see right through whatever defense White had tried to construct. Rather than deny it, White glanced again at the destroyed home. She couldn’t quite tell, but it appeared Steven had fallen asleep against his pearl’s side. That was good, White assumed. Humans needed rest. But the scene was so idyllic, and so unlike anything she’d ever known, and again she wished she too could be of comfort to Steven. 

“Yes. I’m still sad,” White admitted freely. “I had thought...foolishly, perhaps, that Steven saw us as his family too. But now I see we were mistaken.  _ I _ was mistaken.”

It was not the first time.

Even so...had it all meant nothing? Two years Steven had spent with them, running about the galaxies, helping them dismantle their armies and liberate their colonies, teaching them to see the universe in a different light, introducing them to lower gems and even other organics. She’d paraded about with a smile on her face, trying to do better, trying to please, all the while hiding from him all the confusion and sadness inside her. And not once, in all that time, had Steven seemed to dislike her. If anything, he’d been quite kind to them all, had allowed them to get to know him and to love him. 

Until he hadn’t. 

“We’re not his family,” White whispered, so low Spinel had to cup a hand to her ear to hear. “We never were. All that time I thought, but...was he hiding his true feelings all along?” White turned her head back to Spinel, blinking down at the pink gem in her hands. 

“Maybe,” Spinel said with a small shrug. She gestured in the direction of the ruined house and the wreckage of Little Homeworld beyond it. “Seems he’s pretty good at that.” White shut her eyes.

“When I used my powers, I saw myself through his eyes. It was... _ I  _ was…”

“Hey,” Spinel interrupted, giving White’s thumb a squeeze. “You’re not that gem anymore. I know I didn’t know you well before, but the White I know now is good and kind and…” Spinel stopped suddenly, looking away from the sudden pink glow that had sprouted on White’s cheeks. “Aw geez.” 

But White said nothing, so Spinel cleared her throat and continued.

“I mean...you let others take control of you now! You go around letting other gems see themselves as a diamond, you help them…” she trailed off, tapping her chin thoughtfully. “And even if Steven doesn’t see that...I think it’s pretty amazing.”

White swallowed rather thickly, touched by Spinel’s words. She lifted her hands higher to bring Spinel up to her still-glowing face. Before she could react, White pressed her lips to Spinel’s cheek.

“Thank you, starshine,” she said, the light flush spreading to her gem too. “You’re kinder to me than I deserve.” Spinel blushed a deeper pink herself.

“Ahh, it’s nothing, White,” she stammered, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly. 

“But it’s not. I don’t know what I’d do without you, Spinel. Really.” 

Spinel’s response was to wrap her arms around White’s neck, nuzzling her head against White’s much larger cheek. “You’ll never have to know,” she said, her springy arms pulling White as close as she could. For a moment, White allowed herself to be comforted. It was still a new sensation to the ancient gem, who had spent the vast majority of her existence at the top of an imaginary hierarchy, allowing no one and nothing so close to her as this. Not even her fellow Diamonds, much as she’d always loved them, had been allowed to see her this way prior to Era 3. A perfect being could not show such blatant flaws.

But she was not perfect, as it happened. And as it happened, she was just as vulnerable to her emotions as any other gem- as any  _ organic _ , for that matter- and no amount of repressing them had changed that. For so long she had thought of herself as one with her gems, and they with her. She was every color of the light, and they were simply parts of it. Reflections of her. But in the end, she was her own gem after all, with all the imperfections of any of the billions she had made. 

Steven had shown her that. But it was _Spinel_ who had truly made her believe it. It was Spinel who been there this past year, not Steven. It was Spinel who had shown her how dramatically a gem could really change and grow and heal. It was Spinel, not Steven, with whom she had grown close.

“You’re the best White Diamond around,” Spinel said, interrupting White’s thoughts as she let go of the elder diamond’s neck. “And don’t ya forget it!” White bit back a laugh.

“Spinel, I’m the only White Diamond around,” she said, blinking owlishly. She tapped the edge of Spinel’s nose with the tip of her nail. “You silly thing.” 

“Just proves my point, doesn’t it?” Spinel giggled, falling back into White’s hand. “But...can I say something else?”

“Of course.”

“You remember...that whole thing with the injector and trying to destroy the planet, right?" Spinel asked, rubbing the back of her neck. White nodded. “Well, before you and the others arrived, I told Steven that I thought I’d messed up too bad to really be his friend.” Spinel wrung her hands, glancing downwards. “That...I’d hurt him too much, and I just wanted a chance to start over with someone new. And that’s when you guys appeared.” 

“Yes, I remember,” White said, wondering where Spinel was going with her recollections. 

“Well...I guess my point is that...even though I apologized, it was still too late for me and Steven to really be good friends. I’d hurt him too much,” Spinel explained. 

Ah. White brought a contemplative finger to her lip, considering the broken home in the distance and the sleeping boy inside. “I see.” 

“But that’s the thing, see...I didn’t need his friendship to change,” Spinel continued. “Or his forgiveness. So...I guess what I’m trying to say is, you don’t need it either. You’re still a better gem than you were before, and you’re still gonna keep being a better gem, whether Steven likes you or not.” 

White considered that for a moment, her gaze still stuck on the distant form of Steven. He had been her entire motivation for change, the entire reason she had ever been able to do so. What did it matter, if not for him? What was her reason for being this way now, flawed, imperfect, if not for his approval?

But then, she considered the very concept of change. Was it not too late? Steven may not like her, but he  _ had _ inserted himself into their lives and torn at every thread of reality she used to cling to. That, certainly, could not be undone now. Her gaze slipped to the right, to Yellow and Blue. She caught their eye for a moment and gave an awkward wave, a crooked smile on her face. Yellow grinned back, and Blue lifted her hand. 

No, it certainly could not be undone. Spinel was right. She wasn’t the same White Diamond who would hide for 6000 years in her own head anymore. She wasn’t the same White Diamond who could turn her back on her own family. And she  _ certainly _ wasn’t the same White Diamond who could so thoughtlessly hurt innocent beings.

White Diamond had changed, and with or without Steven, those changes were there to stay.

“I believe...you’re right,” White said quietly, shifting her eyes back to Spinel. Lovely little Spinel, who had brought so much light and life to her dark world. 

Spinel leapt up onto White’s head, settling into a corner of her star-like hair. 

“Good, 'cause I am,” she said, clearly intending to relax up there. White leaned back against the mountain. 

Above her, the sky had cleared away it’s clouds. There it was at last, twinkling gently down at them- starlight. And she realized, all at once, that  _ her _ starlight had been there all along.

**Author's Note:**

> ...I wrote this in like. April. Somehow I've only just now gotten around to posting/editing it because time isn't real in 2020 anyways. 
> 
> At the time Steven Universe Future aired, I was a little disappointed that the Diamonds didn't get more of an arc, White in particular, as arguably she needed the character development most. I get why this didn't happen with the limitations set on the series, nevertheless, I had hoped to see more of the Diamonds and Spinel in SU Future. So I wrote this little snippet of catharsis instead.


End file.
